CoalThe RevOlutionary rock

Coal was invented millions of years ago from decayed plant matter called peat. Coal can be black or brown. When you set coal on fire, it produces energy in the form of heat. Coal is used to make buildings and other various products. Coal's main use is to make electricity. Coal produces 40% of the world's energy. The world also uses about 8 and a half billion tons of coal(17,000,000,000,000 pounds) every year. China uses half of this amount. They are one of the top coal producers in the world.

Now, how did coal impact the natural environment? Let's find out:

This is a picture of China's coal. Coal mining is very dangerous. This picture shows coal exploding in the air. Coal contains poisonous gases and harmful air dust that can be lethal. In one coal incident, approximately 500 people died! Coal contains methane which is a greenhouse gas. This makes coal one of the primary causes of global warming.

Now, coal is dangerous, but let's take a look on how it impacted our technology:

Now, this isn't coal obviously, but I'll tell you why this picture correlates to coal. This is a turbine facility or a power station. But, it's not just any power station. It's a coal powered power station. Now, coal produces 40% of the world's electricity. That's a lot! Also, coal is used as a fuel and can be used to power cars, trains, turbines etc. That is how coal has impacted our technology.

Let me take you back to the Industrial Revolution. This started in about 1760 to somewhere between the 1820s and 1840s. This was a time where manufacturing processes were taken to a whole new level, and coal was a big factor in it. Let's take a look:

This is a picture of England's Industrial Revolution times. But, how was coal a big factor in it? Well, coal wasn't just used for manufacturing but also for transportation. Steam trains and railroads were becoming very popular. And as I said, coal is a fuel, so massive amounts of coal was needed to power up the boilers.

As you can see, The Industrial Revolution was literally based off of coal! In fact, the Industrial Revolution started in England. And guess what? They were the leading producers of coal at the time. But coal isn't just for old use. We still talk about it and use it today! Let's see its recent developments:

This is a picture of power plants powered by coal. Coal today IS SO USEFUL. 80% of China's electricity comes from burning coal. These power plants show them producing electricity by burning coal. Coal produces a ton of electricity. We, the U.S.A, also burn coal to make electricity. But, coal also pollutes a ton, and produces greenhouse gases which is a huge factor of climate change.

Continue on:

Now, we are trying to find cleaner ways to use coal to produce energy since it causes climate change. Our beloved President Trump doesn't believe in climate change, but we still are trying to find cleaner energy and electricity sources. But, the bottom line is THAT COAL PRODUCES A TON OF ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY AND IT HAS SERVED US THROUGH THE AGES.

No no no! That's not it! We still have to find out how it affected the early North American conquest! So, let us take a quick look:

So, this is a picture of very old times and how they mined coal. The early people would use coal for heat, to make products, and to fuel and make energy. The Europeans probably used coal against the Native Americans by making tools to fight against them or to even just make simple fires for heat! They also used it for making artifacts or cooking! As you can see, coal has been useful throughout history and it benefitted the Europeans tremendously.